I'm an American writer who lives in Ireland, so I know the guffaws and inspiration that come with upping sticks and moving abroad with a family in tow. I've written two books about my experiences in Ireland, Jaywalking with the Irish (Lonely Planet, 2004) and Ireland Unhinged (Council Oak Books and Random House, 2011). I've written about travel, religion and science for ForbesLife, Discover, Omni, Psychology Today, Boston Globe, New York Times, Irish Times, and the Sunday Times. I previously produced publications on the medical device and diamond industries. I divide my time between Cork City and a cottage beside a mysterious salmon river called the Blackwayer.

11/01/2012 @ 3:25PM10,880 views

Oil Riches In Ireland Could Be Vast

Ireland’s troubled economy received a jolt of hope last month with the news that an oil field off the achingly beautiful coast of West Cork may contain as much as 1.7 billion barrels of oil, with 280 million barrels of that recoverable in the short term at a rate of 100,000 barrels a day, That’s more than the entire country consumes and you would think “Eureka!” is the word. But few are doing cartwheels just yet, given the legacy of futility that has plagued Irish offshore resource exploration for decades.

Experts are convinced that the ocean floor around Ireland contains huge reservoirs of natural gas and oil, with total oil reserves potentially in the neighborhood of 10 billion barrels of oil or gas, just around this corner of the land where I live. But Norway Ireland isn’t. The country’s Atlantic shores face fierce seas, infrastructure remains patchy, and years of protests have beleaguered the efforts of Royal Dutch Shell and its affiliates Statoil and Vermilion Energy to bring their Corrib gas field on tap.

Providence Resources, the Dublin based company behind the new Cork discovery, hopes its Barryroe field may turn this around. Providence is run by Tony O’Reilly, Jr., son of the Irish magnate of the same name who was the former CEO of Heinz and builder of the Independent News & Media group, sold in 2010 to the Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev. O’Reilly Junior was talking Norway last month. “From an Irish perspective, here we have no oil industry. This really heralds the beginning of the industry.”

Indeed, Ireland burned 142,000 barrels of oil a day in 2011 at a cost hovering around $8 agallon, or 18th highest in the world. But it produces not a drop of it. The country’s rebellious nature has not helped this scary equation.

The Shell consortium’s attempt to bring forward the Corrib gas field off County Mayo has been stymied for years by a determined but relatively small consortium of local protesters and hard-core attention-craving eco-warriors who call themselves “Shell to Sea.”

So deep in the national psyche are the hated memories of British truncheons, Irish authorities struggle to find a proper balance in controlling the smallest crowds run amuck. In 2003 an emigree named Mary Kelly broke into a Shannon airport hanger and smashed with eco outrage with a hammer away at a US Navy transport plane en route to Iraq. A few days later she incredibly returned for more of same – and was let off in the Irish courts four years later. Which is no reason to love Big Oil. But, still, anarchy runs deep in Ireland.

Big Oil has watched the Irish scene and its public protests and court cases with trepidation. John O’Sullivan, technical director with Providence Resources, told the Financial Times, “We’ve definitely seen a Corrib ripple effect…. [Potential investors] go through the technical assessment, it gets to their main board and then someone who has worked at Shell or read about Corrib says they are not going to touch Ireland.”

Pat Rabbitte, the Irish Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, acknowledged as much. “You can bring a well ashore in about four years in Norway. By the time we have eventually gone through all the hoops here, it will be 16 or 17 years. I can’t pretend that has been a positive experience for Ireland,” he told Jamie Smyth of the Financial Times.

In 2011, 12 companies were awarded new licenses to explore for oil and gas around Ireland. These included a variety of small to medium players in the field, but despite very favorable terms offered by the Irish government, the mega-powers like Shell didn’t bother to bid.

The O’Reillys swear things are changing and one successful strike could transform the game. Maybe they’re right.

In 2009, Ireland received only 2 bids for offshore test well drilling compared to 350 in the U.K. Since 1975 an average of only one exploratory well has been drilled per year off of Ireland, and only 3% of potentially payable oil or gas fields off the Irish coast are under license for exploration. Estimates are that development of any major field off shore could bring 16.5 billion euros to the Irish exchequeter, which would about make the country sound again.

One would think for such a shrunken economy, dipping deeper on the oil exploration dip stick would offer the potential general good. The current Irish government seems to agree. But this is one country that never seems to be able to get its handle on the weird.

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Dear David , my apologies ,your opinion sounded like that of someone pitching from over the pond , not someone who has been living here the last ten years. Cead mile failte. It does however sound like an opinion formed by reading the editorials of Tony Jrs own polemic propaganda machine. Shell to sea is made up of locals and activists some Irish some from foreign shores but who have one thing in common, that is that the stench of treachery in the County of Mayo is so obscene to them , that standing on the side lines holding their noses is just not an option . Rebellion is not a new thing in this country as you have pointed out and often its finds its champions in the most unlikely of places. The actions of shell to sea have always been peaceful , non violent and done in the manner of a community at its wits end , geographically isolated , starved of media balance and devoid of any kind of due process in the kangaroo court of Mary Devins and some of the other scabs that distribute Shells one sided judgements of law , where if you oppose the pipe line, you had better not come before the courts whilst standing in honor before them in matters separate to the Corrib Gas Projects.

If you want to know the time , definitely don’t ask a policeman in Shellmullet as it will probably be quarter past a kick in the balls and a night in the cells o clock. The Gardai themselves have been too badly maligned by the economic downturn ,that some are turning to the Vincent de Paul to feed their families, not in Rossport however ,no sir, theres plenty of 12 hr days , expenses , overtime , hotel rooms and immunity from the Ombudsman to the point that joking about the rape of female activists goes un noticed midst the rank and file and complaints of harassment, intimidation and physical assault will draw hearty well fed yawns and rolled eyes from any desk sargeant any where in Ireland. The nod and wink policies barely veneer the shoddy thuggery that has replaced the rule of law in Mayo.

The locals there have been branded crack pots , para militaries, terrorists, foreign agitators, protest tourists , scum, backwards, inbred and any other number of offensive terms. The reality is they are isolated, hard working, hard done by citizens of this country that you have come to call your own. They lived quiet , simple lives before the Shell combine polluted and stomped their will all over their faces.

Reasoned protest has failed in Mayo , as it has failed almost everywhere else “reason” meets “truncheons”. There is nothing quite like the sensation of pepper spray in ones eyes and a few cracked ribs to bring this truth painfully home.

Watch the Pipe by Risteard O Domhnail or Pipe Down by Cian O Laoi to gain some perspective as to Shells complete lack of adherence to the rule of law or respect of the Irish constitution. If they cant buy it , eat it or ride it ,they’ll break it. Ireland has failed its countrymen , its constitution and will need to examine its conscience carefully before its too late. Those holding their noses and averting their gaze from the ludicrous situation that the Corrib Project have become are little more than collaborators in the greatest robbery of the Irish state.

When reason has failed and corruption prevailed , what will you tell your children you did when our natural resources are in the hands of the Pinkertons ? Bring your family to Rossport. Its lovely. Mise le meas, Cormac

Livin’ on sponge cake, Watchin’ the sun bake, All of those tourists, Covered in oil……..

Takes on a whole new meaning after BP gets into the picture doesn’t?

Maybe the Irish should stick to making ethanol to put people to work. They ARE pretty good at it—they invented it after all. That way, people could drive their vehicles—-and the achingly beautiful coast of West Cork can stay achingly beautiful. And the fishermen can stay employed as well.

I think the Emerald Isle will look a lot better if we leave it green, instead of covering it with tar. I don’t think the Parking Lot Black Isle would have the same appeal as the Emerald Isle.

Where is this baking sun to which you refer? And might a little talk about the state of the Irish economy might not be pertinent? Also, please cast a thought for the Babylonians, ancient Greeks and Italians, who all stirred a punch, and I Assyria you, could beg to differ.

You make an ages old assumption in your glowingly rosey picture of “the economy” of western Ireland.

A very mistaken picture of the economy.

The same picture of the economy that British overlords painted for years. An economy that puts money in the pockets of the land owners and leaves the common people impoverished, blighted, oppressed and subjugated.

The same “economy” that does the same thing to the peoples of Nigeria, Ecuador, Mexico, Angola, Indonesia, Appalachia, and countless other places.

You are talking about an economy that does indeed provide vast riches to the few in control—-and poverty and slavery to those who are controled.

The very nature of biofuels that can be produced from local materials by local people—-without the need for huge amounts of capital that creates economic slavery is the democratic economic equivalent of freedom.

Leave the petroleum in the ground—-biofuels can do anything that can be done with petroleum. Without the environmental, political, economic and social damage to people, society, wildlife, the air, the seas, and the land.

Please send 4.4 million Irish people 2 lorry loads of turf each immediately because there is another deep frost tonight and could be many ahead for months. But how will they get to us? When the EU is banning even turf digging as not “green.” Please send treasure maps to all of us, too, so that Ireland’s broken economy can be fixed for the sake of “people, society, wildlife, the air, the seas, and the land.” But can I drive to the shop for my family one more time?

Algae grows very well in salt water—-there is a whole lot of it right past the edge of the land no matter which direction you go in Ireland.

There’s a lot of wind in Ireland. (wind power)

There’s a lot of rain in Ireland (hydro power)

There’s a lot of rough seas and strong currents along the Irish coast. (tidal and wave power)

There is a lot of grass in Ireland—that is why it is called Emerald Isle. All that green plant material is solar energy stored in the form of cellulose and other plant materials.

Biofuels can even be made from poop. Sheep, pigs, goats, cattle, and horses produce poop—so do people. Anything we need done can be done with methane made from poop—including run our vehicles.

And the leftover byproduct of producing methane from sewage is compost—the richest, most fertile soil possible, and clean water.

Fertile topsoil to farm on top of the hard Irish karst bedrock is the most valuable resource you can have in Ireland—-and it has been for centuries.

You want to talk about an economy that benefits the people and the environment of Ireland? Produce biofuels that provide the energy that people need, and leave byproducts that are the most important and valuable resources possible.

There is no need to drill holes in the earth and spill oil all over the coast and the fishing grounds. There is no need to destroy the air, the land and the seas to produce a product that WILL run out one day.

Not when the same things can be done, with resources that do not damage people, wildlife, land, sea and air. And every amount of those resources that are used simply will add more wealth to the land that ultimately, every living thing, including people depend to survive and thrive.

Using petroleum represents using up and destroying the natural wealth of the land—without replacing anything.

Using biofuels and renewable resources represents protecting and increasing the natural wealth of the land—and by extension, the wealth of the people who live on the land.

Knowing the Irish—I’m confident that the Irish will choose to protect the land that they fought so long and so hard to call their own.

That is a terrible image you are portraying of ecologically conscious people. Eco is now a proven trend that is unstoppable because it is common sense which everyone has! You need to move out of the dark ages there David :)

The oil and gas that has been discovered off the coast of Ireland is owned by the Irish people who as citizens are shareholders in this State. No short term government has the right to sign this away without consulting with the people first (including yourself). If we manage our resources properly like Norway has done (for the benefit of its people) we can invest some of the revenue raised in developing our offshore and onshore renewable energy technologies that will truly bring Ireland to the forefront of sustainable global development.

Mainstream Renewable Power an Irish leader in renewable power recently announced a privately funded Energy Bridge to the UK which will see Ireland export over 2 billion euro in electricity to the UK per annum. In Ireland we have enough wind energy potential to supply 19 times our annual needs. We have enough wave and tidal energy potential to supply our neighbours in the UK and Europe with a large amount of their energy too. So in the future Ireland will be a major renewable power producer for Europe. We are trying to get off to a good start and the oil and gas debate is very healthy for our democracy.

We have been cheated by bankers and bondholders recently and people have had enough of the corporation thievery that we have witnessed. The fact that ‘our’ oil and gas resources have been ‘discovered’ is a Godsend, a miracle that will get us out of the mess that previous governments have created with their poor management of our economy. The fact that Tony O’Reilly Jnr and Providence Resources are to the forefront of our oil and gas developments is good when Tony Jnr realises that we live in a new conscious age where people understand ethics and what is morally right and wrong. All drilling should cease until proper agreements are in place to share the oil and gas wealth of the nation with her people. Providence Resources are entitled to an equitable share of the revenue but should be willing to accept a similar deal to that which Statoil ‘Sate Oil’ has in Norway (78% revenue goes to the State). If providence are not willing to accept this then we should bank our oil until a suitable ethical partner is found (it will increase in value as the years advance and will become more marketable as a development prospect).

Providence Resources are investing 500million in their drilling programme in the near future which involves rigs from their partners Exxon, Petronas, etc carrying out research at a cost. There is no reason why our government cannot secure 500million by offering the correct deal to the correct people. We have one field Barrrymore (‘discovered’ by Esso in the 1970s, not Providence) that has an estimated 1billion barrels (and up). Of this Providence estimates 280million barrels are recoverable in the short term. That is equivalent to over 21billion euro at current market prices for oil. This figure in itself is leverage to entice ethical drilling partners or hire a team of professionals at very competitive salaries to hire a rig and manage the project. One rig at a time will do. There is no rush! Let’s do it right. This revenue can then be invested in the State and evolving Ireland to become the global leader in renewable energy technologies and power us as a nation into a sustainable future and retaining our green Emerald Isle image for ecotourism purposes.

A bright future indeed for all of us Irish citizens as eco capitalists!